


Classroom Announcements

by deinde_prandium



Series: Call-Caroller [2]
Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Teacher!Katniss, Teacher!Peeta, glasses!Peeta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-25
Updated: 2017-02-25
Packaged: 2018-09-26 19:20:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9917975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deinde_prandium/pseuds/deinde_prandium
Summary: Peeta loves the fact that his girlfriend has gotten a job working at his school. What he doesn't love so much is that he has to keep their relationship a secret...that is, until Katniss suggests making an announcement to their students.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a real life article I came across last week (see below for a link, as I don't want to spoil anything). Basically, I saw it and immediately thought of this universe.
> 
> Many thanks as always to dealan for her excellent advice and beta skills.
> 
> And of course: I own nothing, but I borrow with love.

  
Peeta whistled tunelessly to himself as he headed south on the highway at 7:05am. As the son of a baker, his body seemed programmed to rise before the sun - a quality that made it easier to tolerate the early start time at St. Alma’s Catholic Junior School. It’s not to say he necessarily enjoyed the cold and traffic that awaited him each morning. But recently - for three months and twelve days, to be exact - he’d found himself relishing the time he spent on his daily commute.

And it everything to do with the petite brunette currently sipping her tea in the seat next to him.

It was Madge who had encouraged - or, more accurately, pressured - Katniss to apply to take over as music teacher at St. Alma’s while she was away on maternity leave. _“You’d be perfect,”_ Madge had reasoned. _“Effie still talks about that concert, you know. Between your MFA and your youth choir experience, you’re perfectly qualified.”_ True enough, when Katniss went in for her interview, Effie had offered her the position on the spot, trilling with excitement about how wonderful it would be to have Katniss working with the students again. Everything had fallen perfectly into place.

Well, almost everything.

If there was any downside to working alongside his girlfriend, it was that he wasn’t really allowed to _say_ that she was his girlfriend. Not that he blamed Katniss for having concerns. She was, after all, an intensely private person who wanted to maintain a professional image. And while Effie hadn’t been concerned about the disclosure of their relationship when Katniss applied, Peeta wanted her to feel comfortable in their work environment. Consequently, they both agreed to downplay - if not outright deny - their romantic attachment as much as possible. Neither saw it as an ideal solution, but at least it was temporary.

Their saving grace was the shared commute. Officially, it was a carpool - though with them spending nights together more often than not, there was obviously a lot more to their arrangement than a mutual interest in saving gas money. In truth, Peeta relished the opportunity to continue living in their little happy romantic bubble until the moment when they had to stop acting like a couple and start acting like colleagues.

His thoughts drifted to what would happen when Katniss finished her assignment. How lonely his daily drive would feel. He didn’t exactly care for all the pretending, he thought wistfully, but he was definitely going to miss this.

 _Then again_ , he reminded himself, _I’ve got other things to worry about. Like how I’m going to ask her to marry me._

“Hey, what are you thinking about?”

Peeta started at the sound of his girlfriend’s voice. He glanced sideways at Katniss, whose eyebrows were raised in a bemused expression. “Isn’t it dangerous to daydream and drive?” she teased.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry, went on autopilot for a moment there,” he replied. “I was just thinking about how I’m kinda bummed we won’t be commuting together anymore after next week.” _Not the whole truth, but close enough._

“Yeah, about that…” Katniss began. “I meant to tell you last night after rehearsal, but remember how I’m supposed to meet with Effie today?”

“Oh right, the exit interview. What about it?”

“Well, it turns out that Madge wants to extend her leave. Apparently Jo just got a new job so she can’t take time off like they planned…so Effie wants to talk about me staying through the end of the year.“

Peeta beamed. Once he figured out who the patron saint of carpools was, he would be sure to say a prayer of thanks. "That’s awesome! I mean, as long as that works with your choir schedule.”

“Oh no, that’s fine…” Her tone of voice, however, suggested otherwise.

Peeta sensed something was off. “What’s the matter?”

Katniss blew out a breath. “It’s just…I overheard a few of the kids talking the other day. About us. Again.”

“What kind of talk?”

“The usual - stupid adolescent stuff. I just hate being the subject of gossip, you know? Posy has been great about keeping quiet, but I know it’s not easy. You’re practically family to her at this point.”

That was exactly what Peeta wanted, as a matter of fact, but he kept quiet on that point and focused on the issue at hand. “You still worried about the kids talking about us?”

“Well, yeah. I mean, I know the other teachers know, and Effie’s clearly cool with it, but I always feel like I’m balancing this fine line. Like, at first it was all about wanting the kids to see me as a professional, not just your girlfriend. But more and more, I feel like I’m lying to them by not being open about our relationship.”

Peeta nodded in understanding. “Well, look. As far as the professional part goes - that’s a no-brainer. You are an incredible musician and conductor, and a natural teacher. The kids are lucky to have you, and they know it.” Katniss blushed at the compliment. “Hey, it’s true! You are objectively amazing at what you do, and that has nothing to do with me. But as for the other stuff…what important is that you feel comfortable. You shouldn’t feel like you have to share anything about your private life if you don’t want to. Every teacher is different. You just have to go with what works for you. If that means keeping your personal life out of your teaching, that’s fine.”

“But you don’t do that,” she asserted. “You talk about your family, your friends, all that with your kids.”

“Well yeah, but that’s me. I don’t mind. I’m an open book.”

“That’s not entirely true. You don’t talk about me. Not even before.”

“That’s true,” he conceded, thinking back to all those times his former students - now almighty eighth graders - had unsuccessfully tried to wheedle some kind of confession out of him back when he and Katniss had first started dating. “Because I didn’t think you’d want me to talk about you, even before we started working together.”

“But you’d like to,” she pointed out.

Peeta paused. Of course he’d love for the world to know she was his. There was a ring that had been sitting in his drawer for the last two months to prove it. “I won’t lie and say no, but that’s not the point. The point is that you feeling comfortable with me keeping our relationship quiet, private, whatever you want to call it, is more important to me. My rapport with the kids is strong enough that I can deflect whatever questions come my way. They’re curious, I’ll admit. But they’ll get over it.”

“You shouldn’t have to do that,” she argued.

“But I want to. Because I love you.” He reached his hand out.

Katniss twined her fingers with his. “I love you, too.”

The conversation lapsed into a companionable silence, but Peeta continued to mull over their discussion. Although confident that he had put his girlfriend’s concerns at ease, Peeta realized that he was going to have to put his proposal plans on hold for a while longer if Katniss was going to extend her contract. Not the best scenario, he supposed, but at least it would give him more time to think about the right way to pop the question. Who knew? Maybe one of his attempts would actually stick this time.

Plus, it meant more morning drives with the woman he loved. Even if they had to keep things quiet, he could deal with that. _Yeah_ , he thought to himself as he made onto the school driveway. _This could work_.

Peeta pulled into his assigned spot and switched off the engine, readying himself for the shift into coworker mode. But as he reached to unbuckle his seatbelt, he felt Katniss’ hand cover his.

“Wait a second,” she pled. Katniss took a breath and looked him in the eye, determination painted on her face. “If you want, I think we should make an announcement to your students. About us, I mean.”

Peeta perked up at the abrupt change in her tone. “You sure?”

“Yeah. If I’m going to keep working here, I don’t want to deal with any more gossip. No more secrets. You love me, I love you, we’re dating. End of story.”

“Well, I hope it’s not really the end of that story,” he joked. “I mean, we practically live together…”

Katniss toyed with the strap of her seatbelt. “You know what I mean,” she insisted. “If they’re gonna talk, then it may as well be about something real as opposed to some rumor. Besides, these kids…I love them just as much as you do. And I know you. Being open, sharing yourself with your students - that’s important to you. You shouldn’t have to hide our relationship to protect me. I can handle them.”

Peeta shot her a grin. "You know they’re gonna lose their minds over this, right? They ship us so hard.”

Katniss laughed, melting away any lingering hesitation. “Well then, I guess that settles things. We wouldn’t want to disappoint them.”

Peeta’s heart swelled. What a wonderful, unexpected kind of revelation. It certainly made the idea of delaying any proposal schemes a little easier to swallow.

He leaned over the console to sneak in one last kiss before they had to go inside. “Tell you what. You meet with Effie, and once you’ve hammered out the details, the three of us can sit down and figure out how and when to tell them.”

Katniss snuck in another kiss of her own before pulling away. "Okay, but the sooner, the better. That way I don’t have to keep coming up with excuses to visit your classroom during lunch. Though I have heard that the supply closet is very roomy…”

The hint of suggestion in her voice was enough to make him squirm in his seat. “You are going to be the death of me, Ms. Everdeen,” he groaned.

Katniss bit her lip as she opened the car door. “Just wanted to give you something to get you through the day, Mr. Mellark.”

After a moment, Peeta exited the car as well. Resisting the temptation to hold her hand as they crossed the parking lot, he settled with bumping her shoulder teasingly before establishing a more appropriately collegial distance between them.

Not that it mattered. They only made it about fifty yards before Peeta saw the Leeg twins staring interestedly in their direction from the sidewalk. "Hi, Mr. Mellark. Hi, Ms. Everdeen,” they sing songed, before dissolving into a fit of giggles and dashing into the building. Katniss turned scarlet.

 _Great_.

“I think you’re right,” Peeta said. “Maybe we should talk to Effie sooner rather than later.”

\---

Peeta looked out at the curious faces waiting for him to address them, and suddenly wondered if this was actually a terrible idea.

He cast a sidelong glance at Katniss, who stood next to him at the front of his fourth grade classroom. She smiled nervously in silent reply. In the back, a couple of familiar faces, Posy and Rue, were lingering in the doorway. A few of Peeta’s students spotted them as well, their eyes widening at the sight of the older kids stepping foot into their classroom.

“What are they doing here?” he asked.

“Posy saw us coming out of Effie’s office yesterday, so I told her,” Katniss explained. “I figured that if they’re here for the announcement, she won’t get mad for going public without her knowledge. Plus…she said wanted to make sure I don’t lose my nerve.”

"It will be fine,” he assured her. He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. "You okay with me doing most of the talking?”

“They’re your kids,” she replied. “I’ll, um, I’ll just jump in at the very end.”

Peeta nodded, then turned to his students. “Okay, ladies and gentlemen,” he boomed in his best teacher voice. “You are probably wondering why Ms. Everdeen is in our classroom instead of us going to hers like you normally do.” His tone became more serious. “But we wanted to address a few rumors that seem to have been circulating around school lately. And as my students, we wanted to talk to you first.”

The kids shifted uncomfortably at their desks, evidently wondering if all their lunch time talk was about to get them into some kind of trouble. Peeta played it up. “Now, I don’t need to tell you that gossip is never a good thing. Talking about people behind their backs is not something I like to see happen, ever - whether it is about a friend, or family, or even a teacher. Are we clear about this?”

Twenty-four heads nodded in unison. Even Posy and Rue seemed to have been chastened by his admonition. Peeta wondered for a minute if he’d laid it on too thick, but when he turned to look at Katniss, she gave him a wink of encouragement.

Peeta smirked. Warning having been issued, it was time to change gears. “Now, as for what is going on with me and Ms. Everdeen. It appears that people are wondering why we seem to be so close. There also appears to be a rumor circulating around the school that Ms. Everdeen and I are dating.”

Predictably, chatter erupted. Peeta cast a suspicious glance at Posy, who whispered in Rue’s ear before the two of them dashed out of the classroom and down the hall. _Oh God_ , he thought. _They’re getting reinforcements._

Refusing to be deterred, Peeta went ahead and spilled out the truth. "So for those of you who are so curious, the answer is that Ms. Everdeen and I have actually known each other for a long time. In fact, we met here. My first year at St. Alma’s, Ms. Everdeen helped me when I was preparing the eighth graders for the Christmas concert back when they were my students…”

He trailed off as he saw Posy and Rue rush back in, this time accompanied by their eighth grade classmates. Even Cato Alexander and Marvel Rogers seemed interested in being part of the action.

Peeta heaved a small sigh. _Of course they would want to hear this_. Steeling himself, he continued. “So, to answer the question on everyone’s mind: yes. Since that time, Ms. Everdeen and I have been dating.”

The kids reacted exactly as expected; lots of high-fives and shouts of “I knew it!” laced with hoots and claps. However, not everyone was satisfied. “But that was when we were in kindergarten!“ Nick Odair complained. "How come you didn’t tell us before?”

“Well, Principal Trinket and Ms. Everdeen and I all agreed that we wanted you to get to know Ms. Everdeen as her own person first, not just as someone connected to me. It can be hard stepping in for another teacher partway through the year, especially someone as nice as Ms. Undersee. But now that Ms. Undersee’s decided to spend more time at home with her twins, it looks like Ms. Everdeen will be staying on for a few more months. So she and I decided you deserved to know.”

“Is that why she always has lunch in here with you?”

“Yes.”

“And why you guys always arrive at school at the same time?”

“We…we carpool, but yes.”

“And why you stare at her all the time during assembly?”

Peeta flushed at that last question. _Damn, these kids are observant_. Katniss raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Yes,” Peeta confirmed. “Because we are dating. More than dating, honestly. I love her, very very much.”

A collective “ooooooh!” rippled through the classroom, followed by more tittering. Peeta raised his hands in an effort to calm everyone down. “Okay, okay. So now the secret is out. Ms. Everdeen and I are dating, and I am madly in love with her. But now that you guys know, I want the gossip and such to stop, all right? There isn’t anything else to this story.”

“Okay,” they chorused happily.

Satisfied, he gestured to his girlfriend. “Good. Now, Ms. Everdeen wanted to say a couple words too, so I’ll let her take over from here. I want to see all of you showing me your best examples of attentive listening - that includes you, Grade 8s,” he said, looking pointedly at the group lining the back wall of the room.

The instructions, however, were ultimately unnecessary, as the giggles and whispers immediately died down the moment Katniss stepped forward to speak. Peeta marveled at the way she could command a room without even speaking - she just had that kind of effect on people.

Katniss cleared her throat. “It’s, um, it’s true what Mr. Mellark said just now,” she began quietly. The kids stared at her, hanging on her every word. “To be fair, I know that he really loves being your teacher and sharing stories with you guys about the people in his world. But he also knows that I am a very private person, so he opted to keep quiet out of respect for me more than out of a desire to keep anything secret from you. Does that make sense?”

The fourth graders nodded solemnly. Peeta spied Posy in the back, giving a nod and a thumbs up to her cousin. Apparently encouraged by the response, Katniss continued.

“There is, however, a bit more to this story than Mr. Mellark is telling you.”

Peeta quirked a brow as the kids exclaimed another “oooooh” in near-perfect unison. Where was Katniss going with this?

“You see, Mr. Mellark has told you how much he loves me, but you should also know that I’m totally in love with him too. What we have may have been kind of a secret, but it’s very, very real.”

“Are you getting married?” Cressida Mitchell blurted out. The class whooped in excitement at the prospect.

Peeta felt his cheeks burn. It’s like they knew he’s chickened out of asking at least three times already.

“No,” Katniss said. “Not yet, anyway. But if he’ll have me…”

That was all it took for the class to break down altogether. Peeta stared, wide-eyed, as they rose up en masse from their desks, whooping and hollering as they jumped up and down in ecstatic glee. Not once in his four years of teaching had he seen his students behave like this before; they were so loud, teachers from other classes had come in as well, curious about the commotion his kids were causing. What had begun as an innocent classroom announcement was on the verge of descending into utter bedlam, and he had no idea what to do.

 _I told Effie we weren’t going to make a big deal out of this_ , he thought worriedly. _She’s gonna fire me for sure._

Amid the chaos of giddy shrieks and screams, he almost didn’t realize what was going on. It was only when he heard one kid yell, “Well, what are you going to say, Sir?” that he actually stopped to turn and look at his girlfriend.

He was gobsmacked to find her down on one knee, looking at him hopefully as she held up a ring.

Not just any ring. _Her_ ring. The one he thought he’d hidden so well.

Recovering quickly from his initial surprise, Peeta sank to his knees and leaned in as close as he could to tune out the din of the classroom. As Katniss tipped her own head forward, her hair - normally done up in a braid - fell down past her shoulder like a makeshift curtain, partially shielding them from their adolescent audience. Though they were nearly nose to nose, her silver eyes remained focused on his, shimmering with unshed tears.

“I, um, I accidentally found this in your drawer a few weeks ago,” Katniss confessed. “I didn’t mean to snoop, but when you didn’t ask, I thought…maybe you wanted to wait until I was done, but then with the extension…oh God, I’m doing such a bad job of this, aren’t I? And it must seem really awful and corny to propose with the ring that you got for me, but I thought, maybe, if you didn’t have to worry about us being secret anymore, you wouldn’t feel like you had to wait. Because I don’t - I don’t want to wait. I just want to spend every possible minute of the rest of my life with you.”

Peeta lifted his glasses and swiped a hand across his eyes, but it did little to quell the surge of emotion. Blowing out a breath, he carefully plucked the ring out of her grasp. "This isn’t exactly how I pictured things happening,” he admitted with a chuckle. “So I just want to be sure - you’re asking me to marry you. Real or not real?”

Tears intermixed with laughter. “Real,” she affirmed. “I love you, Peeta Mellark. Please marry me.”

“Yes. Of course I’ll marry you Katniss Everdeen,” he said, reverently sliding the ring onto her finger. “A million times, yes.”

The class, which had temporarily fallen silent, cheered wildly when Peeta swept his new fiancée into his arms and kissed her soundly, professional etiquette be damned. Several students could be heard exclaiming “You go, Sir!” or “Oh my God!” as they watched the scene unfold before them.

Grinning, Peeta cupped Katniss’s face with his palms and leaned his forehead against hers. He was certain the entire student body would know what had happened by lunchtime - if they hadn’t heard already. He suspected at least one of his students had captured the whole exchange with a smartphone. But in that moment, he simply couldn’t be bothered to care.

All that mattered was that he was going to marry Katniss Everdeen.

**Author's Note:**

> Link to the original news story that inspired this one:  
> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/teacher-proposes-to-another-teacher-in-class-and-the-kids-go-wild_us_58a6c406e4b037d17d26a308
> 
> I'm deinde-prandium on tumblr. Come by and say hello (or leave a comment here...but please be kind). Thanks for reading!


End file.
